


Sealed Bonds

by wildstorm312



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Hornet thinks a lot, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Sealed Siblings Ending (Hollow Knight), The Knight is Called Ghost (Hollow Knight), They/Them Pronouns for The Vessels (Hollow Knight), everyones rly just sad, yes i know vessels arent supposed to have emotions but shh let me live my life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:27:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27735316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildstorm312/pseuds/wildstorm312
Summary: Post-Sealed Siblings Ending - Hornet wakes up after they get sealed inside the Black Egg.
Relationships: Hornet & The Knight (Hollow Knight), The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & Hornet
Comments: 3
Kudos: 98





	Sealed Bonds

**Author's Note:**

> I got the sealed siblings ending last week and have had thoughts ever since so thats pretty much what this is. I do plan to write some less angsty/sad ending stuff for this game too ebkcbkecb I just had to get this out of my brain first. This is also my first hollow knight fic (as well as the first fic ive written in years so i might be a bit rusty) and I haven't totally finished the game yet so feel free to leave comments n such :)

Hornet opened her eyes and was met with mostly darkness, a dim light shining in from somewhere over her head. The orange glow that previously occupied the room was gone completely, absorbed with the infection. Hornet reached for her needle as she sat up, grabbing it with a shaky hand. She looked around the room in confusion, blinking rapidly to clear her vision.

The first thing she noticed was the chains. They were strong, tightly latched to the floor and the ceiling. Suspended in midair, in the center of the chains was the body of a small bug- no, a vessel. _Ghost._ She looked to the other side of the room and felt her heart sink. There lay the empty shell of their sick sibling, cracked further by her needle. She forced down the guilt- there had been no other way, with the infection set deep within them. Her gaze returned to where the Knight hung in the chains. Their head hung low, their body not able to move within their bindings. Hornet’s memories of the fight slowly returned to her, and she leaned against the chain behind her. 

She’d given Ghost an opening, stuck her needle in their infected siblings’ mask and tied them with silk- a perfect opportunity for a Dream Nail- an opportunity to face the Radiance. However, Ghost wasn’t fast enough. Hollow had managed to break free from her grasp, knocking her unconscious. She could only assume that after that they were forced to kill their sibling and take their place. Anger filled her and she gripped her needle tighter. How could they let this happen? She had told them outside the Black Egg how she couldn’t join them, how the egg would drain her. She didn’t intend to risk her life, but only just provide them an opening. And they blew it. _Now I’m stuck here._ She angrily looked at them. She was behind them, so they couldn’t see her. _They probably don’t even know I’m awake. They might not even be capable of caring anyway._

Hornet let out an exasperated sigh and set her needle back on the ground. No reason to use that here now. She leaned her head back and looked up, into the dim light shining down on her and her trapped sibling. Then she once again glanced at Hollow’s cracked mask, guilt fighting with her anger. She knew they’d failed their job, evident by the infection that had raged within them, but she still felt bad after this whole situation. Raised by her father, the king, only to be sealed away forever until they needed replacing. She never knew Hollow all that well, other than recognizing them from afar when they had been young. They were siblings, yet they knew nothing of each other. _Just like Ghost._

Except Ghost had been different. They, while unable to speak, had listened to her. They battled her with a strength she’d not seen before. While they were also empty, filled with void, they knew more of her than Hollow ever did. Ghost seemed to understand her, even attempted communicating before with nods and confusing gestures. She supposed this was the result of a vessel not raised by the Pale King. Unlike Ghost, Hollow’s head would have been filled with the rules and words of their father; _Do not feel, Do not think, Do not speak, Do not…_

Hornet shook her head. Now was not the time to dwell on such things. She looked back up to where Ghost was and was surprised to see their head raised, turned slightly in an attempt to look behind them. The chains were too tight to allow such movement, so they weren’t able to actually see her- yet they were aware of her presence. _They must have heard me._ She thought, and decided now was the time to face them. May as well, at this point- they’d be stuck here for a while. She pushed herself off the ground and found that she was a lot weaker. _How long was I out?_ Her legs shook as she managed to stand. She grabbed the chain for stability and huffed, her legs threatening to give out. She stood still for a few minutes, strength slowly returning. Once she knew she was stable enough to walk, she let go of the chain and slowly made her way to Ghost.

The chains held them at about the same level as her head, which was far lower than how Hollow had been kept. As she made her way around to where Ghost could see her, she saw them wiggle their legs as much as they could. _Could that mean excitement? Joy or happiness that I’m alive?_ She doubted the vessel could feel those emotions, and even if they could, they wouldn’t know how to express them. Hornet made eye contact with Ghost, looking into their dark eyes. At first she felt rage, but it quickly simmered out. Ghost was so tightly chained that they could barely move their head, but maybe enough to nod or slightly shake it. Their arms were completely useless, and their legs just dangled under them.

“You’ve defeated our sick sibling, only to take their place. In that process, you managed to get me sealed in here as well.” She spoke aloud, her voice sounding slightly raspy. Ghost hung their head at that, in what looked like guilt? Shame? Regret? Hornet once again found herself questioning the vessels’ emotional ability. “I’m sure that wasn’t the intended outcome, but it happened nonetheless.”

Ghost wiggled their legs again and looked back up at her. They already had a hard time communicating with her and this situation only made it all the more difficult. Hornet narrowed her eyes at them, her body still shaking slightly under her cloak. Speaking took her breath away in a way it never did before. Was this the effect of the egg, now in full after sealing?

“My strength seems to drain with the simplest of tasks. I told you, this was a place made for your likes, not mine.” Ghost nodded weakly at that. Hornet sighed and looked away, her eyes landing on Hollow’s mask again. They looked as best they could to see where her gaze went. When they saw it was the cracked face of their sibling, they looked back down. 

“Do you feel bad, too?” She asked with a shaky breath. “Our sibling is dead, only for us to be stuck here as they once were.” Hornet saw Ghost nod in her peripheral vision. _I suppose they can feel some emotion, at least a little bit._ She looked back to her living sibling, guilt weighing on her chest.

Ghost was meant to be emotionless, yet the weight of the situation still managed to affect them. Black liquid seeped from their eyes ( _Eye holes?_ Hornet didn’t still know.) The black trailed down their mask and dripped to the ground below. _Are they... crying? I didn’t know vessels were capable of such things._ Before she knew what she was doing, Hornet found herself reaching to Ghost’s face with a tenderness she didn’t know she had. She held their head in her hands and wiped away the liquid ( _Tears?_ ) with her thumb. The liquid was ice cold- it was probably _Void._

“It’s okay, Ghost. There was only so much we could do.” Comfort was a foreign concept to Hornet- growing up in Deepnest wasn’t exactly the most comforting thing, and even when she went to the White Palace it wasn’t the best environment either. Her father was, obviously, a bad one. Her mother did what she could before she became a Dreamer, but Hornet still spent a lot of her life alone. As a result of that, she wasn’t exactly the princess of making people feel better.

Despite all that, she managed to surprise herself. While she was angry at Ghost for getting her stuck here, she felt the urge to comfort them, make them feel better, despite the situation they were in. They looked at her, tears slowing, and leaned into her hand as much as they could, given the chains. She rubbed their cheek gently, which seemed to comfort them greatly. They let their head droop, her touch lulling them to sleep.

 _I assume they don’t get comforted all that often._ She thought, taking her hands away as they fell into a deep slumber. Hornet stood for a moment, watching them, before quietly walking away. Before she realized where she was going, she had lowered herself to the ground next to Hollow’s cracked mask. Looking at it sadly, she shakily set her hand upon it. _I’m sorry._

What happened next would have scared her if she hadn’t witnessed Ghost’s shell break before. Black particles rose out of the crack next to her, gathering together in the air above. She pulled her hand back, watching intently as the particles formed into a Hollow-shaped shade. White eyes stared into her, a split crack connected to one of them. The shade notably had both arms, unlike their infected body. It did not attack her, but instead drifted closer. She was surprised it was still here- or even here at all. _Maybe the shade is sealed here too._

“Hollow.” Hornet said, watching them. The shade dipped its head to her, silent as always. “I’m sorry.” She spoke softly, looking back to the ground. 

She felt a cold presence near on her head- the shade had rubbed its head on one of her horns in a comforting manner. Now it was her turn to cry, tears silently falling from her face. Hornet felt Hollow’s shade wrap their arms around her, causing her to cry more. The shade was cold- just as Ghost’s tears had been- but she didn’t mind. This was probably as close as she’d ever get to her sibling again. She reached up and rubbed her tears away, leaning into the ice cold hug. She’d be stuck here for a long, long time, but at least she wasn’t completely alone.


End file.
